View that surrounds Belle Ile en Mer, France, where families like the Trahans, Landrys, Grangers and Simons still reside.

Written by

Claire Taylor
ctaylor@theadvertiser.com

Starting with his parents and grandparents, Trahan, now 83 years old, worked his way back through time, tracing his family to Nova Scotia and France. He has a database today with around 132,000 family names in it, forefathers reaching back to the 1600s.

"I've got maybe 10, 12 family lines: Trahans, Clarks, Vincents, Simons and Heberts," said Trahan, who lives in Maurice in Vermilion Parish, where he was born and raised. "Thirteen generations. The first one I have was born around 1536, Nicola Trahan." ...